Quotes from David Gemmell

This is the real magic of fantasy fiction: it can feed souls and change lives.

Most wars are fought for greed, but we are luckier here we fight for our lives and the lives of the people we love.

When your life has been spent in one war after another for forty-five years, you have to be pretty handy to survive.

While men compete in war, there will be warriors. While there are warriors, there will be princes among warriors. Among the princes will be kings, and among the kings an emperor.

A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn't hurt others.

I don't know yet whether I fully believe in fate, but certain things do happen in a man's life that he cannot explain.

Men don't change. They just learn to disguise the lack of change.

What is life if a man cannot count on his friends when he has gone mad?

In my experience all women deserve someone better.

But men don't come in just two groups, one of gold and the other of lead. They are a mix of both." "And what about women?" "Pure gold, my girl," Rayvan answered with a chuckle.

Many fantasy novels - 'Lord of the Rings', for instance, or 'Lavondyss' by Robert Holdstock - are beautifully written. Geoff Ryman's 'The Child Garden' is exquisite and utterly beguiling. Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' trilogy is an astonishing piece of multi-faceted storytelling. So quality of writing does not condemn the genre.

If there is one sound the follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.

They dont understand what real treasure is. They see it in gold and copper, and tin. They see in herds of horses or cattle. They gather treasures to themselves, building great storehouses, which they guard ferociously. Then they die. What good is it then?

Love is not about conquest. The truth is a man can only find true love when he surrenders to it. When he opens his heart to the partner of his soul and says: Here it is! The very essence of me! It is yours to nurture or destroy.

And what is a man? He is someone who rises when life has knocked him down. He is someone who raises his fist to heaven when a storm has ruined his crop--and then plants again. And again. A man remains unbroken by the savage twists of fate. That man may never win. But when he sees himself reflected, he can be proud of what he sees. For low he may be in the present scheme of things: peasant, serf, or dispossessed. But he is unconquerable

There is evil in all of us, and it is the mark of a man how he defies the evil within.

To be truthful i am not entirely sure what people mean when they talk of happiness. There are moments of joy and laughter, the comfort of friendship, but enduring happiness? If it exists i have not found it

We make choices everyday, some of them good, some of them bad. And if we are strong enough - we live with the consequences. To be truthful I am not entirely sure what people mean when they talk of happiness. There are moments of joy and laughter, the comfort of friendship, but enduring happiness? If it exists I have not discovered it.

We are tiny flames, Helikaon, and we flicker alone in the great dark for no more than a heartbeat. When we strive for wealth, glory and fame, it is meaningless. The nations we fight for will one day cease to be. Even the mountains we gaze upon will crumble to dust. To truly live we must yearn for that which does not die.

I caught a pebble in the moonlight.

Men don't change. They just learn to disguise the lack of change.

Life can be savored only if you look to the future and leave vengeance to the gods

Life is not so simple. There are many futures. The life of a single person is like a great tree: every branch, every twig, every leaf is a possible future.

If you want to fight evil, you have to climb down in the slime to do so.